


The Winter Ghost

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Aromantic Natasha Romanov, Friends With Benefits, Ghost Bucky Barnes, Implied Sexual Content, Other, Permanent Injury, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-25
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24916855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Natasha could tell as soon as she said it, that Steve didn't understand what she was trying to tell him. "He's a ghost." He thought she meant that the Winter Soldier was hard to pin down and there were only whispers about him. He didn't understand that the Winter Soldier had gone from what he was currently thinking, to actually being dead.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17
Collections: Natasha Bingo





	The Winter Ghost

**Author's Note:**

> For Natasha Romanov Bingo: I4-Ghost AU

She could tell as soon as she said it, that Steve didn't understand what she was trying to tell him. "He's a ghost." He thought she meant that the Winter Soldier was hard to pin down and there were only whispers about him. He didn't understand that the Winter Soldier had gone from what he was currently thinking to actually being dead. He was a _ghost_. "Steve," she said, because she couldn't let him continue thinking that. "He's a ghost. Not a person, not anymore." 

Steve opened his mouth to reply, paused, then frowned. "A ghost," he repeated. 

"Yes. Intangible in form, used to be a real live person like you and me until Hydra killed him for being too much trouble," she said in her usual flat tone, as if this didn't matter to her. As if she hadn't lost her partner from it. Bucky had either latched onto her or onto his old life. She didn't know; she hadn't seen him since it happened except for once in passing, and he'd disappeared before she could do more than be sure it was him. She didn't like either of the options for how he was here. 

Steve wasn't a trained interrogator, but he knew his friends. "You knew him," he said. 

"He trained me," was her response, because it was the easiest answer to give. 

"You were close?" 

Yes. By her definition, yes. By what Steve meant as 'close', no. So she said, "You wouldn't think so." If it had been anyone else, she would have said no flat out, but Steve was her friend. It made her want to not lie to him. 

"Do you want to talk about it?" 

"No." 

* * *

Ghosts could control how they appeared. It was more about how they thought of themselves instead of being able to change outfits or something like that. They could have wounds, too-pale skin, unkempt hair, pretty much however they good or bad they thought they needed to be. 

And Bucky was in a bad way. He looked like a mixture of starving and that time he'd shattered his leg but kept going because he needed to finish the mission-- in pain and miserable. Hydra had liked the determination, but they hadn't liked all the ways they had to make up for it when the mission was done. When they found him, they had to replace his arm. After he shattered his leg, they'd set the bones but had to give him a brace so he could run without a limp. He burned the shit out of his feet when he was in Japan and had to get specially designed shoes to fit the way his feet had healed-- and was too late for Hydra to try and recorrect on their own. 

As a ghost, Bucky didn't have any of those aids. He didn't let himself have them. 

Sometimes a family was you, your old partner who was now a ghost, your new partner who drank coffee directly from the pot and thought that guns were uncouth, and the rest of a team of dysfunctional superheros. Natasha didn't have time to list everything that was wrong with every single one of them. 

Bucky hovered around the tower like he didn't know what else to do with himself. He didn't interact with anyone. Anything Natasha, Clint, or Steve said to him might as well have been said to a brick wall. Tony talked to him like he talked to everyone, not that it made a difference to Bucky. 

* * *

Bucky threw himself onto the couch next to Natasha and Clint where they were making out. "Hey. Hey. Clint." Bucky tried to poke at his shoulder, but it didn't make contact. "Guys, stop kissing, I want to talk to you about something, and then you can go back to it." 

"Fine," Natasha said, licking her lips as she pulled back. "What?" 

"And not to sound like a jackass, but can you make it quick? You never know when a supervillain will decide now is the perfect time for his evil plan,” Clint added. 

"Can I watch you have sex?" Bucky asked. "I've been with Natasha before, so it's not like it would be a big deal, right?" 

"I don't care," Clint said easily. 

Natasha shrugged. "Sure." 

After it was all done with only a _little_ awkwardness, Clint said, "I'm pretty sure this isn't how normal couples work." 

Natasha scoffed, stretching her arms over her head. "Right, because our relationship is the perfect example of the average couple. We're not even dating." 

"That's so not the point," Clint said. 

"It works," Bucky pointed out. "Not being in love worked for all of us." 

"Except for the part where you're dead," Natasha said, because it still bothered her. He deserved better than that after everything he'd been through. Happily ever after with her wouldn't end with a wedding, but at least they would've been happy together. 


End file.
